Winners of the Intercultura call for applications A.Y. 2020–21

August 2020 – Fondazione Pesenti continues its collaboration with Intercultura.

This initiative has grown over the years, both in terms of investments and the number of students involved. It is an educational project aimed at fostering internationalization and intercultural awareness among outstanding young students from the province of Bergamo.

The collaboration between Fondazione Pesenti and Intercultura began and developed during the 2009/2010 school year. Over the course of more than a decade, it has expanded to involve around 40 excellent students, who have had the opportunity to spend an entire academic year in educational, social, and cultural contexts profoundly different from their own.

Scholarships for the 2020/21 academic year were awarded to students residing in the city and province of Bergamo.

Simona Giupponi (scholarship for the United States)

Giulia Tagliaferri (scholarship for Germany)

The students

Simona Giupponi
Program: year abroad in the United States
School: Istituto Scolastico “Vittorio Emanuele II” – Bergamo

Simona lives in San Giovanni Bianco (BG) with her parents and has an older sister who had the opportunity to participate in an Intercultura program in Sweden and is now studying at university in Ferrara. Her father is a factory worker and her mother runs a small business. Her maternal grandmother has also been living with them for the past year and a half. Simona has an excellent relationship with her family, with whom she speaks openly about everything. She helps with household chores and sometimes cooks. Simona describes herself as cheerful, friendly, reserved, polite, empathetic, generous, and altruistic. She also acknowledges that she can sometimes be stubborn. She is determined and does not allow herself to be influenced by others. She also says she is sincere and greatly enjoys studying. For her, honesty and loyalty are the most important values.

She attends a tourism-focused secondary school, where she receives excellent grades. Her favorite subjects are law, economics, English, Spanish, and German. In the future, she would like to study law and become a lawyer. In her free time, she enjoys reading, particularly fantasy novels, experimenting in the kitchen, and horseback riding, especially in summer. She also enjoys singing and has been a member of her church choir for four years.

From the Intercultura program, she hopes to meet many people and get to know their culture, and to find a new family that will welcome her as one of their own. In turn, she would like to introduce others to Italian culture. She is not afraid of interacting with people who speak a different language, as she believes that only by making mistakes and challenging oneself can one truly learn.

Giulia Tagliaferri
Program: year abroad in Germany
School: Istituto Scolastico “Romero” – Albino (BG)

Giulia lives in Alzano Lombardo (BG) with her parents and younger brother. Her father is a blacksmith and her mother works in an office. She enjoys spending time with her family, with whom she has an excellent relationship, aside from the occasional argument. At home, she helps her mother with housework along with her brother, with whom she has fun despite their different personalities. When facing important decisions, she turns to her parents for advice.

Giulia describes herself as a very positive person who always tries to see the bright side in everything she does. She enjoys being around others and helping them when they are in difficulty. She considers herself fairly stubborn and rarely oversensitive. When she sets a goal, she feels determined to achieve it and doesn’t give up easily. The qualities she values most in a person are generosity, reliability, and honesty.

She attends a language-focused high school, where she achieves excellent grades. Her favorite subjects are English, German, and Spanish, but she is also very interested in scientific subjects such as biology and chemistry. In her free time, she enjoys sports, especially playing volleyball. On weekends, she often goes with her brother and father to watch football matches. On other occasions, she hangs out with friends or watches movies and videos.

She hopes that by participating in the program abroad, she will make new friends and stay in contact with them in order to further improve her foreign language skills. She chose to undertake this experience also to become more responsible and independent.

Fondazione Pesenti aims to promote and spread a culture of innovation understood as the development of ideas, projects, and actions capable of creating a positive impact socially, environmentally, and culturally. The Foundation fosters modern forms of interaction among the public sector, for-profit private sector, and the non-profit world, by designing sustainable solutions that address major social challenges. Its new focus areas—alongside its traditional commitment to preserving national historic and artistic heritage, educational and scientific programs, public conferences and publications, humanitarian and social solidarity projects—are designed to support initiatives with a positive impact in creating socially valuable new businesses, especially developed by younger generations.

Associazione Intercultura Onlus has been promoting intercultural dialogue for over 60 years through international exchange programs involving thousands of young people and families around the world. It works to foster the internationalization of Italian schools by providing examples of best practices and training sessions on managing exchange programs (it is an accredited body for training school personnel by the Italian Ministry of Education). The Association offers scholarships to support the international student mobility of deserving youth. The Italian Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs are partners of the Intercultura Foundation and support its activities.